Stumbling in to nothing
by Sachida
Summary: AU Sasuke's life takes another unwanted change when he gets new stepsiblings, what's even worst is that he discovers that he might have some feelings for his new stepbrother. Meanwhile Kiba is starting a band. SasuNaru, KibaSaku.
1. Chapter 1

AN: So this is the first story I'm acually posting. I feel so exited. I hope you'll like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other caraters from Naruto, they all belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I do however own Naru-Chan (my beloved laptop) and a whole bunch of other objects named after the caracters in Naruto.

Warnings: Shonen-Ai (meaning boyXboy for those who don't know), violence, angst, bad laugage. (I'm basically writing this story as it comes so I dunno if there'll be other warnings in the future)

Parings: SasuNaru, KibaSaku and others but they aren't very main in the current development plus some are currently un-decided some will be mainly hinted.

Beta'ed by: Ai'Kirai

Stumbling into nothing

Chapter 1 - New family members and the beautiful voice

(Sasuke pov)

I dedicated Kiba yet another glare and turned up the volume of my mp3-player another bit. He was lying on the mattress on my floor, reading some magazine loudly and explaining every single joke as he got to them. I had told him for about the billionth time that day that I didn't care. But did he listen? No! I didn't mind as much as I pretended to though. I guess that was what it was like with someone you had known since the age of three; you got too used to them, and no matter how different lives you were living, how different you became, they could still lay on a mattress in your room, reading comic books just the same way as they had when you were nine and still cared for the content of those goddamn books. The good thing with those kinds of friends were that you also knew that two years from now it would still be like that, no matter how much the both of you would change. They would always be there, as something constant. Unlike everything else in my messed up life that kept changing. And I didn't like changes, not at all.

"So, when are those new family members coming?" Kiba asked and pulled one of the headphones out of my ear.

I shrugged at him, not bothering to answer, and put the headphone back in, turning up the volume yet again.

Yes, those new family members; the latest addition to the nowadays miles long list of changes occurring. The last year they had been so many that I wasn't even sure anymore how life had been before.

It all began with Itachi going of to college in the beginning of the year, a change that didn't bother me all that much. Most eighteen year olds do that. It was something normal. Something expected. Something I was prepared for.

The next thing on the other hand wasn't. One day at dinner my mom had simply explained to me and dad that she had met someone else and that she was leaving. Not something normal. Not expected. And defiantly not something I was prepared for. After a large fight between mum and dad at the table, over the chief's famous duck breast and an expensive bottle of white wine, while I was clearly still present, my mum went of to pack. She told me when father wasn't present that I could come with her if I wanted to. Her new boyfriend wouldn't mind. When I refused she had kissed me on the forehead, corrected my bangs a bit and gave me a big hug, telling me that if I ever wanted, or needed, to come live with her I could. I was always welcome to come visit, if just for the weekend or a few hours. Then she had been gone. I visited her a few times, but I stayed with dad. She was happy with her new life. Her boyfriend was an alright guy too, even thought I still hated him. He did ruin my life as I was used to it.

Dad on the other hand wasn't happy. Even though he and mum hadn't been in love for a very long time, if ever, her leaving was still a painful blow to him. If nothing else then at the very least to his pride. He changed a lot, and suddenly one day he told me we were moving to an apartment downtown. The mansion life, surrounded by servants, was apparently not for us anymore he told me. _Why the hell not?_ I wondered. I still do.

Then we moved here. Since neither one of us are really the homemaking type (I'm pedantic though, so it does look clean) we still have a lot of boxes everywhere, and we mostly live on takeout.

And then it was the latest addition. Dad met this new woman at work. Suddenly he became all happy he too, and now she was moving in here with her two kids. I directed a glare at the bed on the other side of the room after that thought. Since the girl got the spare bedroom, the guy was going to share this room with me. Whoopee! Thank you, dad. Thank you so very much. Now I have to share a room with my new brother whom I don't know, or want to get to know for that matter. My glare grew more vicious at the thought of how they where arriving today, any minute now.

Almost on queue with that thought, dad shouted;

"Sasuke! Get out here and greet Naomi and her kids." From the tone of his voice, that I could only vaguely hear trough the music, I realized that he was indeed serious and if I wouldn't do as I was told, there would be consequences. With dad there were always consequences.

I sighed and pulled out the earplugs, stepping out of the room, Kiba practically bouncing behind me from excitement.

Kiba thought that my family was much more interesting than his. The only thing they ever did was to go off to Agility competitions, leaving him to stay at my place over the weekends, or even full weeks every once in awhile (the reason he was here now by the way). Since they didn't believe that all that traveling would be good for his grades his dog Akamaru also stayed with us during those times. He and my dad apparently found each other sometime after mum's departure and he usually spent all the time he was staying at our place following my dad around (except when Kiba called for him, then he came running within seconds). As we turned around the corner, except for the painful lack of bedrooms this was a large apartment, I heard an unfamiliar voice.

"You have a dog?" The voice asked. For some odd reason I really liked that voice. It was a soft male voice that for some reason was really pleasant to listen to.

"Nah," Dad answered. "Akamaru is Sasuke's friend Kiba's dog. They're currently staying at our place. They are staying in the room you and Sasuke share. I hope you don't mind."

"No, no problem," the voice said. "I love dogs. Thought my cat might not," he finished, a slight hint of panic in his beautiful voice, (what the heck was wrong with me? Had I just developed a liking for my stepbrother's voice?) As we came into the hallway I was faced with my father's and three other persons' smiling faces. A pink haired woman with light green eyes, her daughter whom was a younger copy of her and the son, who looked completely different. He was blond with the clearest, sky blue eyes I'd ever seen. Uh-huh, now there was clearly something wrong with me; I didn't just like his voice but his eyes too now. I shrugged it off and walked over to them.

Kiba, who had also heard the previous conversation, turned to the boy. "Don't worry about it, Akamaru gets along fine whit cats"

The boy smiled a bit and scratched his neck a bit awkwardly.

"Actually, It's more Kyuubi I'm worried about." The boy sighed. "He doesn't really get along with anyone or anything."

The girl nodded in agreement. "Uh-huh, Naruto's cat isn't very friendly exactly."

Kiba smiled at them. "Well neither is Sasuke, but I've been friends with him ever since we were three, and Akamaru gets along fine with the bastard too."

I glared at Kiba coldly, but he just smiled at me, ignoring my glare.

"Still doubt he'll get along with Kyuubi. He only likes Naruto," The girl said to Kiba, giggling a bit.

The woman turned to me, stretching out her hand. "You must be Sasuke," She said with a smile. I nodded and shook her hand.

"Mrs. Haruno I presume?" I answered politely.

"Please, call me Naomi," she said, then eyed the kids with a sharp glint in here eye. "Your manners," she mumbled, as she turned to shake Kiba's hand.

"Sakura," the girl said, shaking my hand with a small smile on her lips. She then turned to greet Kiba, while Naruto greeted me.

"I'm Naruto," he said, his hand clasping mine. His skin felt much warmer than mine. For a short moment our eyes met and I felt my heart beat faster, then it was all gone as he turned to greet Kiba.

"Which grades are you guys in?" Kiba asked the girl, or Sakura as she was named apparently.

"Oh." She smiled. "We're both sophomores."

"Really? That's the same as Sasuke and me" Kiba asked, obviously surprised. "Are you guys twins? 'Cause you don't really look alike."

Sakura shook her head.

"No, where actually not even biologically related," she said.

"Huh?" Kiba asked.

"Well, you see…" This time it was Naruto speaking. "My mum and Sakura's were really close friends. So when my parents died, Naomi took care of me and my brother." There was a slight hint of sadness in his voice as he spoke, but he quickly covered it up with a smile. Though Sakura seemed to have noticed it too, because her hand flew up to his hair, which she softly ruffled a bit to offer comfort. He gave her half a smile as if to say; "Don't worry, I'm okay."

"Well," dad said, "Chinese or Pizza for dinner?"

"Pizza!" both Kiba and Naruto shouted simultaneously. They both turned to each other, eyeing the other surprisedly and then both started laughing at the exact same moment. I almost felt a sigh crawl up my throat. Great, my new stepbrother/roommate had the same personality as Kiba. Wasn't one of them enough?

"Any objections?" My dad asked jokingly. Seriously, what had happened to him? He used to be mister serious. Hadn't cracked one joke during my childhood.

Naomi smiled at him and shook her head. Since neither me nor Sakura said a word he nodded to himself and went into the kitchen to call after asking everyone for their orders.

After he had exited the room Naomi rubbed her hands together and smiled at her kids.

"Well, we should carry up the rest of our stuff," she told them. Her voice was sugary sweet, but by the way both Sakura and Naruto quickly nodded and went out to the door I sensed it wasn't a request but an order.

"Would you guy's like to help?" She asked us, still smiling.

"Sure," Kiba offered.

She turned to me. I stood silent. Sadly I hadn't noticed my dad re-enter the room.

"Sasuke," his voice said threateningly. I sighed.

"Yeah, no problem." With that, both Kiba and I exited, following Sakura and Naruto to the car. They both smiled at us as we showed up.

* * *

"I didn't think mum would make you help," Sakura said. "She's usually very nice to people she doesn't know." 

"Nah, she just asked, I offered to help and Sasuke was forced by Mr. Uchiha," Kiba said with a slight laughter.

Naruto had turned away from us and was speaking soothingly to something in the car. As he turned I saw he was holding a cat of a dark orange color that looked almost red, with the same pattern as a fox; white stomach, face, belly and paws. The cat glared at us all with evil looking eyes as it meowed complainingly to Naruto. He smiled slightly.

"This is Kyuubi. He isn't very friendly right now because he doesn't like traveling or being in his cat carrier."

"Who are you kidding?" Sakura asked. "That cat is never friendly."

Naruto just glared at her curtly and then went back to stroking the cat on the head, mumbling soothing words. It almost looked like the cat smirked triumphantly at Sakura, but it might just be me imagining things.

After a lot of caring boxes up and down the stairs the pizza arrived, and we ate. Dad and Naomi embarrassed us all by spending the dinner flirting and feeding each other. They were quite disgusting, really.

Kiba and Naruto apparently found that they had a lot in common and spent the dinner discussing different pranks they'd pulled at their teachers, which left me to talk to Sakura. Well I had no actual need (or desire) to speak to her, but apparently she felt the need to hold a conversation. I learned a lot of uninteresting facts from her. For example where her father lived with his new wife and son, that Naruto's brother was named Haku and had gone off to college, and how it looked where they used to live. But from the conversation I also heard a bitterness over the move and at her mother, and from what she was saying I realized that she and Naruto probably were just as pleased as me with having them live here. Which was not at all by the way.

I found myself asking a lot of questions about Naruto for some reason. After a while Sakura started to look at me suspiciously. What? I was going to share a room with the guy. What the hell was wrong with wanting to learn something about him? It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he had a beautiful voice or the most amazing eyes I've ever seen. Nope, nothing to do with that. Nothing at all.

After dinner we all watched a movie, one of those stupid romantic comedies(1). Dad and Naomi were still being disgusting. This time by feeding each other popcorn. Kyuubi got into a fight with Akamaru and Kiba and Naruto spent half the movie arguing about who's fault it was (and not if it was Kiba's or Naruto's by the way. Nuh-uh, they fought over whether or not it was Kyuubi's or Akamaru's. Seriously, some people were really way too ridiculous when it came to their pets). They kept on fighting until Sakura hit them both in the head and gave them some quite unfriendly threats regarding what she would do to them and their pets if they didn't shut up and let her watch the movie. Which she was really the only one watching.

Eventually it was late enough to go to bed and we all went to our rooms. Since we only had two bathrooms and one of them was at the moment occupied by certain parents, whom were most probably doing quite embarrassing stuff, we all ended up fighting over one bathroom. Sakura took way too long and she ended up having an argument with Kiba over it. She just shook her head at him and said something along the line of that since she was a girl it was her right.

As we listened to Kiba and Sakura arguing over the bathroom Naruto pulled out a deck of cards and asked me if I wanted to play. When I just looked at him confusedly he smiled and said that he was used to having to wait for the bathroom, since both his brother and Sakura spent a very unhealthy amount of time in that particular room. He told me it was worst during morning though and that he always woke up early so he could get there before them. Otherwise he'd miss the first class. As he smiled at me I felt my heart speed up yet again. What the hell was wrong with me?

* * *

After almost an hour of playing cards finally Sakura was done, and shortly after that Kiba. Naruto eyed me questioningly. I shrugged and he went first, finishing his bathroom duties surprisingly quickly. I guess that was something he had learned too. I went last into the bathroom, quickly washing my face before peeing (Yeah, I do that. I'm only human. Unlike those certain people in books that never seem to need that. Okay, so maybe they did it behind the scenes or whatever, but in some books you just get the feeling they actually don't pee). I washed my hands and then I brushed my teeth and changed into my navy-blue PJs. Even thought I was only gone for about 15 minutes both Naruto and Kiba were already asleep in their respective bed's—in Kiba's case mattress—when I got back to my room (I still considered it my room even thought it was Naruto's too now). Kiba slept with Akamaru at his feet and Naruto with Kyuubi rolled up like a ball on his stomach(2). I crawled down under the covers, closing my eyes. Since falling asleep wasn't exactly a talent of mine, I listened to the others breathing. Kiba and his dog where snoring like usual, though not very loud, thankfully. Underneath all that noise I eventually heard Naruto's low breathing. I found myself listening to it, becoming more and more peaceful, and a warm feeling entered my chest. As the thoughts I hadn't worked trough properly this evening entered my brain, all passing by quickly, they stopped at one thing; Naruto, his voice, his eyes, his smile, his soft breathing from the other end of the room. And then the insight came to me. Oh God. I felt my breath hitch in my throat. Oh God. Fuck, I liked Naruto. And not like in the way of liking his personality as a friend. He was way too alike Kiba and quite annoying. Not as annoying as Kiba, but almost there. 

No not liking like that. I _liked _him. Oh fuck. I already knew I was gay, and I had gotten over the issue with that even though my family would take it badly if I told them. I had come to the realization at a biology lesson when we had the flowers and bees thing. Since our biology teacher was a big pervert, he had showed us a lot of pictures of naked men and women. I came to the realization as I noticed _that_ certain part of my anatomy getting hard as we were watching the naked males, while I just felt bored looking at the naked women. Practically all the other guys in my class were drooling. Well, technically Kiba was the only one actually drooling. He does adopt way too much behavior from those dogs. When I tried to point out that he was drooling the only response I got was "Oh...That's nice to hear" said with a distant voice, as though he wasn't listening at all. Though some of the other guys were looking quite amusing too.

The only one, except for me, that had looked completely unaffected was that creepy guy, Gaara. He just played with some sand he'd got from somewhere (wherefrom, I didn't want to know), looking completely unaffected. But I was pretty sure that guy was an asexual.

Back to the current problem. I had no problem being gay. The problem was that the first guy I ever liked was first of all as straight as Kiba (I had heard them discussing the hotness of some supermodel earlier so I was pretty sure) and secondly living in my room. And also, added to that, my new stepbrother. I couldn't have found I worse person to like, honestly.

Suddenly I noticed that I had been watching the contours of his body in the darkness while I was thinking. I was about to turn around as I heard a voice, his voice, mumbling.

"Sasuke? Are you awake?"

I swallowed praying that he hadn't noticed me watching him.

"Yeah?" I asked hesitantly.

"You have sleeping problems too?" he asked.

I eyed him confusedly trough the darkness. Wasn't he sleeping just a minute ago? He seemed to hear my thoughts and answered; "I know I was asleep just a minute ago, but I'm a very light sleeper. I wake up from the smallest sounds."

I nodded, though unsure if he saw it in the darkness.

"You wanna play some cards?" he asked.

"Sure" I answered. There was no chance in hell I would fall asleep now anyway. I felt his smile more than saw it in the darkness as we went out to the kitchen to play without waking up Kiba.

We played in silence. Neither of us seemed to have a need to speak, which surprised me quite a bit. Naruto was obviously a very talkative person. But it felt comfortable like that. No pointless chatter, and so I didn't ask about it.

After a while Naruto's cat joined us, crawling up on Naruto's lap where her rolled into a ball. We sat like that for hours, the only noise heard being that of the cards moving against the table and the small, soft purr Naruto's cat made from time to time.

For some strange reason, this was the first time since my mum had announced at dinner that she was moving out that I felt like I belonged, like I was where I supposed to be. I chose not to analyze it right then though, much the same way as I chose not to think about he line of thoughts I had had earlier tonight. They were both something I needed to think trough in private. Definitely not while Naruto was present.

Suddenly our comfortable silence was interrupted when Naomi entered the kitchen. She was already finished with filling a glass with water from the faucet when she noticed us. Sighing heavily, she turned to Naruto.

"You're not sleeping again, huh?"

Before Naruto had chance to answer the question, the answer was obvious anyway, she continued.

"You need sleep Naruto. We've already had this conversation. Go back to bed now." Her voice was sharp, but behind the strict tone I heard a clear hint of worry and care. Naruto looked at her sadly. Though the clearest emotion in his eyes was fear.

"You know I can't," he said lowly.

"Naruto..." She sighed again and then shook her head to herself. "Don't make me call your brother and tell him about this," was all she said, and at that Naruto almost flew of the chair, hurrying back to bed. Naomi turned to me.

"I know I'm not your parent and have no right to tell you what to do, but my guess is that your parents would want you to go back to bed too," she said. Then she eyed the clock.

"It's five AM, so I'm actually pretty certain your parents would want you to sleep now," she finished. She swallowed the last bit of water in her glass before going back to bed.

I sighed. Since Naruto had gone back to bed I found no purpose in staying in the kitchen. Besides, if I understood Naomi correctly dad was coming out here any second now to tell me to go back to bed, so I got up with a sigh and headed back to bed.

* * *

I woke to loud yelling. 

"**Hey, you've been in there for over an hour! Get the fuck out! I need to fucking pee,"** Kiba's voice yelled.

"**Like I care. I'm not done. You just have to wait,"** Sakura's voice yelled back. I heard a small giggle from the other side of the room. Naruto sat on his bed, playing some game on his game boy, a small smile on his lips. He for some reason found Kiba and Sakura's argument amusing. I almost felt like smiling at him, but then my eyes moved on as I noticed the mess he must have caused trying to find his game boy. The boxes on his side of the room were all turned upside down. As was his bags, other objects and clothing, covering the whole floor. I felt anger boil inside me, but remembered what my brother always told me; to count to ten whenever you think you might do something rash due to anger.

One...

"**Get the fuck out, princess pink!"**

Two...

"**No chance in hell dog boy. I'm not done yet."**

Three...

"**Then get bloody done then! You obviously have a great need for your beauty products to look even half descent, but over using them won't help; you're ugly beyond salvation"**

Four...

"**What did you say?! Oh you're so gonna regret that when I get out. Which, by the way, isn't soon"**

Five...

"**Get the fuck out _right now_, you fucking bitch, I need to pee."**

Six...

"**In your dreams dog boy. Go pee on a fire post or something."**

Seven...

"**I'm not a dog! You... you... _you_! Get out of the bathroom!"**

Eight...

"**The doggie is starting to lose his creativity, huh? Then can you just shut up and leave me alone?"**

Nine...

"**Look, bitch, I need the bathroom. Get the fuck out!"**

Ten.

I heard another giggle from Naruto and felt my fists clench as I looked at the mess he caused. I had counted, but I still felt like screaming and so I did.

"**What The Fuck Did You Do To My Room?!" **I didn't yell very loud just loud enough for Naruto to hear me over the much louder screams from the hall and bathroom, but I put extra emphasize on every word, just to make myself clear.

He looked up from his game, staring at me surprisedly.

"**Clean it up loser!"** I yelled, a bit louder this time. I saw his eyes narrowing as he came to a realization and then started yelling too.

"**First of all, don't call me loser, bastard!" **

Bastard? I almost felt like laughing. He sounded just like Kiba. That guy always called me bastard. But he had no right insulting me. He was the one who caused this mess in my room.

"**Oh, loser, I can call you whatever I want. Now clean the fucking mess up."**

"**Second of all,"** he continued, ignoring me**. "What do you mean _your_ room? I live here too now!"** At that I felt a chill run down my spine. It was true; it wasn't just my room anymore. But that still didn't mean he could mess it up like this. It was still at least partly my room, and if I wanted things tidy I could have them fucking tidy.

"**Still doesn't mean you have the right to throw stuff all over the floor. Now clean UP!"**

"**Lastly,"** he finished, still ignoring me. **"You have no fucking right to tell me what to do!"**

"**Yes I have and if I tell you to clean up, idiot, you clean." **

"**What did you call me, you jerk?"** With that he punched me in the stomach before I had a decent chance to react. I punched him back, unsure of where I was aiming exactly. Soon we were both wrestling on the floor, trying our best to land punches on one another.

As we were fighting I didn't notice that Sakura and Kiba's yelling had stopped, so I felt really chocked when I was pulled up from the floor, were I was holding Naruto down and punching him.

"**What the hell do you think you're doing to my little brother**" Sakura asked as she was glaring at me.

_What the fuck?_ was the only thought that passed through my head at that moment. She then turned to Naruto, who was still lying on the floor, looking pretty beaten and messed up.

"You should be grateful mum isn't home. I mean, she would be furious.

"She really likes this guy. The first one she's liked since my dad left might I add. And she did give us this long speech while we were driving here on how we had to get along with his kids."

"Yeah," Naruto sighed. "I know".

"And we obviously don't even matter much anymore, since she dragged us over 200 miles across in the middle of a school semester, not even caring to ask what we thought." Her eyes started to fill with tears at that and I realized that Naruto and Sakura probably had it worse than me right now. At least I hadn't been forced to move away from everything I've ever known and all the people I knew, into someone else's house (not home, this was not a home). Plus I hadn't been forced to change school mid-semester.

Naruto had also noticed the tears in Sakura's eyes and got up from the floor, walking over to her to hug her tightly.

"_You're not alone. I'm always here,_" I heard him whisper to her.

"_Thank you,_" she whispered back. "_I know._"

I felt awkward, like I was intruding on their special moment. As I headed for the door I heard Sakura's voice again.

"Naruto, what a mess. Come on, I'll help you clean up and put your stuff where it's supposed to be. But you will have to help me unpack then"

"Deal," he answered with that beautiful voice, and I felt like cursing. I had almost forgotten about my realization last night, but now it came back with full force.

I _liked_ Naruto.

I sat on my bed, reading and listening to the others' conversations from the living room with half an ear. Dad and Naomi were still gone. They had apparently gone furniture shopping Kiba had informed me earlier.

"So what do you guys do around here for fun?" Naruto asked.

"Not much I guess," Kiba answered. "Some people do sports. I'm training agility with Akamaru, thought my parents wont let me go on competitions anymore 'cause my grades are too bad. Oh, and me and a friend of mine are trying to start a band, but it's not going too well."

"Oh, how come?" Sakura asked.

"Well, I can only play drums and the other guy, Shika, he can't play anything. He's too lazy to learn and so he only writes the songs. But he's awesome at that. So we need a singer, a keyboard player, a bass and a guitar, but we can't find anyone."

"Really?" Naruto asked. "Sakura is great at the keyboard."

"Really?" Kiba asked. I could almost hear him fly out of his chair and I saw from the small opening in the door that he was kneeling next to her feet.

"Please," he begged.

"Sure," she answered. "But in that case, Naruto has an awesome singing voice."

"Sakura..." Naruto muttered and I heard a slight hint of panic in his voice. The part about him having an awesome singing voice didn't surprise me at all. I mean, his regular voice was amazing enough as it was.

"Seriously?" Kiba asked. "Awesome! You're in, right?"

"If I'm going to you're going to too," Sakura said with an almost threatening voice.

"Whatever, okay," Naruto said, but to my surprise he didn't sound happy about it, not at all.

"Okay, just a bass and a guitar left then," Kiba said happily. I was pretty sure he was bouncing up and down in his seat from excitement. Actually I knew he was, even though I couldn't see him. Because I knew him, and I had known him since I was three. So I knew him well enough to know his reactions.

"Actually, I used to know a guy who played the bass," Naruto mumbled thoughtfully.

"Well, since where you guys used to live is so far away we can't really do nothing about that," Kiba commented.

"Actually, he moved a few years ago and come to think of it I think it might have been here he moved," Naruto answered before turning to Sakura (I sat in an angel that let me see Naruto pretty well. Okay, I had spent fifteen minutes turning around on the bed until I found the best angel to see Naruto well trough the small crack between the door (which was slightly ajar) and the door frame.

"Wasn't it here that the Sabaku's moved?" he asked her.

"Come to think of it, yeah," Sakura answered.

Suddenly her voice sounded a bit strained. "Wait a minute, Naruto, you don't mean Gaara? Naruto! He scares people, and I don't really think a band is his thing."

"I'll talk him in to it. Don't worry about it."

"Gaara...Gaara Sabaku?" Kiba mumbled, his voice sounding startled. I understood him completely, that guy was creepy.

"You mean Gaara in my class? The creepy guy with the tattoo on his forehead? Him, with the red hair and creepy green eyes with black circles around the,? The creepy guy with the sand?"

"Yup, sounds like him!" Naruto exclaimed.

"But he's creepy!" Kiba whined.

"I agree," Sakura muttered.

"Oh, come on. Alright, he can be a bit grumpy sometimes and a bit hostile to people, but he's an pretty cool guy once you get to know him."

"He gives you creepy death threats when you try to talk to him!"

"He's just not a people person."

"No, Sasuke is 'just not a people person'. _That_ guy on the other hand is creepy"

"Honestly," Naruto muttered. "Gaara is better than Sasuke. I mean he doesn't throw a fit just because you've caused a little mess."

"Sasuke is just like that; he's a neat freak. You'll get used to it," Kiba answered.

"Gaara, on the other hand, tried to strangle a girl just because she accidentally bumped into him in the hallway."

"Gaara is 'just like that'; he doesn't like it when people touch him. You'll get used to it," Naruto retorted, copying Kiba's way of talking about me from earlier. True, I was a bit of a neat freak, but comparing me to Gaara was still unfair; I've never tried to kill anyone for making a mess.

"Come on Kiba, we need a bass," Naruto said, sounding a bit annoyed.

"He isn't too bad," Sakura said with a sigh, supporting Naruto. I had a feeling she did it more to support Naruto than to get Gaara to join the band.

"I promise I'll ask him not to kill you," Naruto joked.

"Well, alright," Kiba sighed. "You sure you can get him to join?" Kiba asked then, his voice filled with doubt. I understood him completely; bands never did seem to be Gaara's thing exactly.

Naruto laughed. "I have my ways."

"Then there's just the guitar left," Kiba said. "You don't happen you know anyone else around?"

Sakura laughed at that.

"Well, Gaara's siblings, but Kankuro has always been too busy with his puppets to care to learn any instruments and Temari plays the flute if I remember correctly."

"No guitars?" Kiba asked. At that I saw Naruto turn to the door I was behind, I felt a curse form in my throat. Ever sense I heard about Kiba's band plans I had done my best to hide the fact that I played the guitar. I was pretty sure he knew I took guitar lessons when I was younger, but I was also sure he thought I hadn't played for eight years or so. He had no idea I used to play to myself in my room from time to time, like I done today when he was out with the dog. I had only done it for a short while to be absolutely sure he wouldn't catch me playing, but Naruto had heard. He had been in the room at that time, reading one of Kiba's stupid comics.

"Sasuke plays the guitar," Naruto said. "He did it earlier today when you where out with Akamaru."

I was going to kill Naruto, that was for sure.

"**He does WHAT?!"** Kiba hollered. "Are you serious?"

Naruto nodded. I was so going to kill him for this.

"I know he used to take lessons when we were little, but I thought he stopped playing ages ago. Wonder why he never told me...He knew I needed a guitar player," Kiba mumbled.

And then.

"**Uchiha!" **he shouted and then ran over to my room, pushed the door open and ran in.

"You play the guitar?! Why the fuck didn't you tell me?" He took a breath and then he continued; "You knew I needed a guitar player!"

I just looked at him, then I sighed and stood up. "Kiba, I don't wanna be in your band. That's why I didn't tell you. No offence; I don't wanna be in any band at all."

He just stared at me silently. I stared back. And then Kiba suddenly attacked me and I fell back onto my bed from the tackle.

"Kiba." I sighed. "I don't feel like fighting with you right now, and we both know I'm gonna win. You can't force me to join that way."

He looked at me pleadingly, with puppy dog eyes. Since he spent so much time with dogs, puppy dog eyes were something he was good at. I still didn't cave. Though I wasn't the kind of person who gave into puppy dog eyes anyway.

"Sasuke," he said. "Come on. We've been best friends since we were three." I just looked at him, though I felt a bit surprised. We used to be best friends when we were younger, but as we grew older Kiba got friends with a lot of other people, while Kiba remained my only friend.

We started to hang out less. He was still my best friend, my only friend, but I just figured someone else was his best friend. Apparently not.

I wondered why. I mean, I guess he does stay at my place a lot, and before when we lived next door we used to walk home together everyday, but we never really hung out at school and I wasn't all that nice to him either.

Kiba looked at me questioningly, like he was trying to figure out exactly how he was going to convince me. Then he seemed to get an idea. He pushed the door closed and said silently so that only I would hear;

"I promise not to tell Naruto that you have a crush on him," he announced. I stared at him in pure shock.

"I-I-I don't have a crush on him!" I said with a weak, low voice.

He just smiled at me disbelievingly.

"Whatever."

I stared at him even more shocked. "How the hell did you figure that out?" I muttered.

He just shrugged.

"I know you," He stated simply, like that was the only answer necessary.

"How did you even know I was gay?"

He smiled slightly. "Remember that class Genma had when he showed us all the nude pictures? Your eyes practically popped out of your head when he showed us the males."

I stared at him. Kiba had known I was gay as long as I had! Then I got a bit startled, wondering if some else had figured this piece of information out.

"Don't worry," Kiba said, apparently reading my mind. "You weren't that obvious. Besides, I'm the only one who knows you well enough to read you. You're quite hard to read, you know"

I looked at him, a new fear appearing,

"And I didn't tell anyone! Who the hell do you take me for?"

Seriously, it was like he could read my mind before I said anything at all.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew?" I asked finally. Though, since Kiba seemed to have the ability to read my mind I was quite surprised he hadn't already answered that question before I had the chance to ask.

"Just figured you'd tell me when you felt ready to talk about it. I know your family, so I get why you would have a problem with it at first."

Apparently he'd read something else in my mind, because he continued. "And no I'm not a homophobe." Then he sighed and looked at me again.

"Look, I'm not gonna tell Naruto whether or not you join, nor am I gonna tell anyone else." He smiled slightly. "But if you wanna get with Naruto, joining the same band as him is a pretty good idea."

I raised one eyebrow at Kiba. "Naruto is straight."

Kiba nodded.

"Yeah, I know. But you can always give it a, try right?"

I glared at him. "He is probably homophobic too and—"

"Actually he isn't; His older brother is gay," Kiba interrupted me.

"So Sasuke, will you join the band?" Kiba asked.

I shrugged. I'm still not sure why, maybe so I could be close to Naruto, or maybe because I felt grateful towards Kiba for being my best friend, for knowing me so well, or maybe because of something else completely but I said—

"All right then."

"**Thank you!" **Kiba hollered and gave me a quick hug, and then he started to run around the apartment frantically, bouncing and screaming;

"**I have a band, I have a band!"**

What the hell was wrong with that guy? I sighed and buried my head under the pillow. What the hell had I gotten myself in to?

* * *

(1) I don't mind romatical comedies acually it's one of my favorit movie genre but I figured Sasuke wouldn't be to found of them. 

(2) Rolled up one his stomach kinda like the seal you know?I thought it was funny...

AN: So I hope you liked it! I'd appriciate constructive critisim and all other reviwes seariously if I get one singel reviwe long or short I'll be so happy that I'll jump around and start calling all my friends to tell them, yes I am patetich. Anyway I have te second chapter almost finished I'm just gonna do som minor editing and then send it a long to my beta, who might take some time whit it but she has a lot of homework and other stuff to do (like hanging out whit me). But hopefully it won't take to long on eighter mine part or her's.

Excuse the miss spelling in my AN's but the spellingprogram on this computer dosen't work and I'm not having my AN's beta'ed my beta is busy enogh as it is.

Sachida

Beta's Notes; Wah, I got to read this before everyone v Naruto seems so cute in this fic'.

I just wanted to mention that English is not my native language, and so if there are any mistakes it's probably me just not knowing better. Or I was being lazy and missed it. It's my fault that this took so long! I'm sorry! If it was up to Elin, this would have been posted in Mars. If I take too long betaing in the future, please don't hurt me. Elin's got the random threats part covered already.

/Ai'Kirai


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Okay so first of all this chapter is currently un-betaed but because of my personal rule to myself I decided to try to post a new chapter every month. I will have the beta-ed version up as soon as my beta is done whit it, but until then please bear whit me and my little mistakes english is not my first laugage, but I have tried my best to edit it as much as possibel. Secondly this whole chapter is in Naruto's pov and for some reason I have some short of weird issue as I always write Naruto really angsty, seriously he's more angsty than Sasuke... Well I hope you like it anyway :-) And thanks to everyone who reviwed, put me on favorite or alert list yo made my day I jumnped around happily and repeted stuff along the line of "I got 4 reviews" Over an over on the phone to my beta :-)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anyone else from that serie but I do have three Naruto pin's two on my schoolbag and one on my keyband. I also Have a really cool Hitsugaya (from Bleach) pin my Beta bought for me when she was in Stockholm on here way to Spain...Not that it has anything to do whit anything but I really like that pin...

Warnings: Shonen ai (boyxboy), bad laugage, violence, angst... did I miss anything? Not for this chapter anyway I belive. Oh and currently un-beta-ed meaning most probably spelling and grammar errors, and also apparently I have a issue whit words that sounds the same but spells diffrently my beta told me so you'll probably enconter that, I did my best to edit thought.

Stumbling in to nothing

Chapter 2

Old friends and old memories.

(Naruto's pov)

"Are you really sure this is gonna work?" Kiba asked me as we walked down the school hallway.

"Yeah, I'm sure, I know Gaara" I answered for the fifth time that morning, (which was quiet a lot considering Kiba had gone back home last night and we only just meet him outside of the school, not more then three minutes ago or so). I didn't really get why the guy seemed to think so lowly of Gaara, I mean his best friend was Sasuke!

Kiba still looked at me disbelievingly. I sighed.

"Just show me to the classroom, I'm pretty sure he'll be there, then I'll take it from there, okay?" Kiba nodded and began to show the way as a hand grabbed a hold of my collar.

"And where do you think you're going? We're new here, we have a meeting whit the principal before we start!" Sakura told me, before releasing her grip on my collar.

"Relax, sis, I wasn't gonna ditch you or anything, I just thought I could talk to Gaara first and then go whit you to the principal" I muttered to her quiet annoyed.

She just sighed at me and pointed at a clock on the wall 08:12 and we started 08:30, last time we switched school the meeting whit the principal took 10 minutes each, so there where no time to talk to Gaara. I sighed and nodded at her.

"Sorry Kiba, I'll have to talk to Gaara later we gotta go, seeya later" I waved at him as Sakura and I began to walk away, Sakura dragging me in the arm, then I realized I was being a bit impolite so I turned,

"Bye Sasuke!" I shouted as I was practically dragged towards the orientation board by my sister.

* * *

A few minutes later we finally arrived at the waiting room outside of the principal's office. Sakura looked at her watch and cursed mildly.

"That bad?" I asked she held up her watch against my face. 08:19 it read.

"And our appointments was at 08:10" She muttered. Sakura hated to be late, she was quiet a freak when it came to being on time, and if someone else was late she took it as an personal insult, and because of that she was also convinced that everybody else found it quiet insulting too, and as school mattered much to her she of course didn't want to start of on the wrong foot whit the principal. I sunk down comfortably in one of the couches, as Sakura paced around in the room. The vice-principal wasn't there either, my guess was she/he was either in the principals office, had time of or where late or downright ditching work, thought all I knew for sure was that the desk was empty. I spotted a name tag on the desk thought ShizuneKusuri/ vice-principal and School nurse. And school nurse? That's weird. Oh well at least I figured out why she wasn't there now, most likely she was doing her other work.

I let out a small yawn due to boredom, and Sakura glared at me, man she was edgy right now. The principal's door opened slightly and a female voice that oddly sounded a bit familiar called out,

"Sakura Haruno" Sakura almost jumped in surprise, I almost felt like hugging her, she must be really nervous to be like this. Sakura gave me a quick wave and entered the principal's office closing the door behind her. I read the name tag on the principal's office as I noticed it when my eyes turned to the shut door.

Tsunade **Namekuji/ principal**

I felt my breath hitch in the throat. Oh my god. That was why the voice had sounded familiar. A memory flashed trough my brain.

* * *

_Mum held me on her left hip and my brother in her right hand as she waited for the apartment door on which she just had knocked to open. I was about five and my mum had started to carry me around less and less as I got heavier, thought sense what had happened just a few nights before, she had barley let go of me at all. Just as Haku, my three years older brother, had clung to mum's hand as it was the only thing that kept him safe, kept him alive. _

_The door opened and a blond woman that looked to be around 35 year's old opened, she had almost impossibly large breast and a purple mark in between her eyebrows. She stared at us first bored, slightly annoyed, and then in pure shock._

"_Hello mother, long time no see" My mum said, her voice cold. The woman looked if possible even more shocked. Then she stepped aside, pushing the door open._

"_Miko" She paused "Come on in"_

_We entered, my mum walking in to the living room, the woman mum called mother following. My mum seated herself on a couch putting me down next to her. My brother remained standing next to us still holding mum's hand. The woman sunk down in the armchair. There was a pillow whit cat pictures on the couch next to me, and I began to play whit thegold colored fringe that was on it as I listened to mum and the woman's conversation._

"_I'm guessing there is a reason for this sudden visit in the middle of the night after not having contacted me for the last ten year's?" She asked._

"_Yes" My mum agreed "I still haven't forgiven you or father, for that matter, for what you did, but something happened three nights ago and I need your help, you and father are the only two people I can trust whit this" She paused to collect herself. _

"_My husband was murdered" The woman eyes widened at mum's statement. _

"_I know who did it" Mum continued, "I need to find a way to stop him as I know he wants to kill me and my sons too" She paused again. _

"_Whit that I don't need your help, and I will give you no further information on that subject" Her voice was sharp, in a way that suggested that it would anger her if the woman tried to help here whit that. The woman looked a bit annoyed but didn't protest. _

"_Then Miko, what do you need my help for?" She asked._

"_To keep my sons safe" My mum said. The woman nodded slowly._

"_I can do that" _

"_I know you and father don't get along all that well but you should probably call him to they need all the protection they can get" My mum smiled slightly looking a bit relived that the woman had agreed. Then she turned to us._

"_Haku, Naruto be nice boys and wait for me here, my mother is going to take care of you, maybe my father too, they can both be a bit eccentric, but they will keep you safe. I have to leave you for a while but I'll be back as soon as I can. We both nodded, I felt tears in my eyes, I tried to hold them back and show mum that I too was a big boy like my brother but I couldn't help it I started to cry. Mum bent down and hugged us both tightly,_

"_I love you both so much" She whispered "Never forget that"_

_I felt her tears against my cheek, she cried to. Then she got up dried away her tears and straitened out her outfit. _

"_Haku, look after your brother, and Naruto do as your brother tells you to" Was the last thing she said before she left, shutting the door behind her._

_The woman turned to us, smiling, but I saw tears in her eyes. _

"_I'm Tsunade Namekuji, and I'm your grandmother, please call me Tsunade" She said. _

_(End of flash back)_

* * *

I was still staring at the door in pure shock when Sakura exited the office, and the voice, still familiar, and now I knew why, called.

"Naruto Uzmaki"

"I'll wait for you" Sakura said as I entered to office in some sort of weird trance.

A familiar face smiled at me from across the desk, the oddest thing was she still looked exactly the same, as if she hadn't aged a bit, as she must be at the very least a bit over fifty it was odd that she still looked 35, plastic surgery I guessed.

"Mr.Uzmaki, please have a seat" She said politely, I realized that she didn't recognize me, I was pretty sure mum never gave her our last names and I had changed a lot sense I was five. I sat down, staring at her, still unable to utter a single word

"So Mr.Uzmaki, I talked to your old principal, and I was told you where quiet the trouble maker, I would like you to know that I wont tolerate any of that her so if yo-"

"You don't recognize me, do you?" I interrupted, finally able to speak, mostly thanks to my old principal, and my annoyance of hearing another lecture, I sent principal Saurtobi, a grateful jet annoyed thought.

"No" She said "Is there a reason I should?" She asked. I nodded slowly.

"I dunno, you tell me Granny" I muttered. Her eyes went wide as she got out of the chair and backed against the wall.

"Oh, Oh my god" She mumbled, as she seemed to search my face for likenesses whit the face I had 11 years ago.

"Naruto? Oh my god! It really is you" She said and fell back down in her chair, then to my surprise, and probably her own to she stood back up and walked over to my chair, hugging me tightly. I hugged her back, I was still surprised but I was good at hugs I almost did them as a reflex. The moment felt like it lasted for hours, but it probably only lased for a few seconds, then she let me go, and walked back to her seat plopping down in front of me tears in her eyes but a smile on her face (just like that night my mum had left us whit her).

"So, little one, nice to have you as a student here, I'm definitely gonna get your prankster ideas out of your head" She said her smile teasingly.

"And how is your mum and you brother?" My breath hitched again, she didn't know. I felt sick, telling someone that there daughter had been dead for seven years wasn't exactly something funny to do, especially not if said daughter was your mother and the subject was hard enough to speak about already.

"Haku is fine" I stalled "He is in college now". Then I looked away, spotted a familiar picture on the wall, a smiling brunette around her later teens maybe my age, she wasn't very alike me I had never looked very much alike her, instead, I close to mirrored my dad, but she looked so much like Haku. Mum I felt tears in my eyes, and I quickly moved my eyes away to another, even more familiar picture. A small blond boy about five, smiling widely on a swing, me, and a brown haired boy a bit girlish looking standing next to the swing a small but truly happy smile on his face, Haku. I turned back to Tsunade.

"My mum died seven years ago" I said lowly. And my brother haven't smiled a truly happy smile like that ever sense, I added in my thoughts.

She just stared at me.

"No!" She said weakly.

"I'm sorry" I answered. She sat there silently, trying to force herself to stay collected. After a while she looked up at me.

"Sense it was seven years ago, taking a day of for it probably wouldn't be allowed" She muttered to me half jokingly, half trying to keep herself from breaking down right there. Then she looked down, and when she looked up at me again all signs of feelings had been erased from her face and she smiled a small smile. She looked like my brother did most of the time, and I felt a strong urge to cry, or scream, or even puke. I did nothing of that, I just smiled back. She silently handed me my schedule. As I got up to leave, she grabbed my arm. I turned back to her again.

"You have Jiraya for gym, after lunch, please don't tell him this during school time, I'll tell him after school, I would appreciate if you would join us then" I nodded slowly knowing that then I would be forced to give them details, details from one of the two worst nights of my life. She must have read something in my face because then she pulled me into another hug.

"Little one" She said softly this time emotions back in her voice. "Just because what happened to your mother, whatever it is upsets me, it doesn't mean I love you or you brother any less, you can come to me whenever you need to, about anything" I nodded against her shoulder. She let go.

"Come by after school Naruto, that is an order, both as your grandmother and as your principal"

I exited the room. The clock on the wall said 08:54 but Sakura was still there. As she saw the look on my face she immediately wrapped her arms around my shoulder, practically leading me towards the classroom. I have no idea what she thought I was upset about, if she even had a guess, but I was sure she had no idea what the truth was. And as much as she deserved an explanation, I just couldn't give her one right now. Later I thought, I'll tell you later, as I lent my head against Sakura's shoulder.

* * *

When we got to the classroom I had collected myself enough to give Sakura a small reassuring smile, before she knocked on the door.

A few moments later the door opened and a smiling dark haired man whit a scar across his nose and his hair in a ponytail opened.

"Oh hello, you must be Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzmaki. I'm Iruka Umino your English teacher" He said smilingly as he let us in.

"Yes" Sakura answered "And I am very sorry that we are so late, the principal held Naruto for quiet a while"

"No problem" He answered "Please have a seat" He motioned the free seats in the classroom, as I looked I realized that all the free seat's where at the same place, they where all around a redheaded boy, they where all around Gaara. Idiots I thought of the class, he was most probably one of the nicest person in that class but they all avoided him like the plague. He sat in the bottom left corner, the seat next to him free, just as the to desk rows in front of him.

I quickly moved a cross the classroom taking the seat next to him wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Hey Gaara! Long time no see!" I said loudly he turned around, a shocked smile evident in his face.

"Naruto?" He asked.

"Yup" I nodded. Sakura sat down in the desk in front of us.

"Nice to see you again Gaara" She said and held out her hand. He took it slowly.

"You too Sakura" He answered. He turned back to me again still smiling.

"Naruto If you would please let go of me" He said I shrugged and let go of him.

"I just missed you Sabaku" I said.

"Yeah" He mumbled lowly "I missed you too Uzmaki"

Then I noticed the whole class including the teacher staring at us in pure shock.

"Oh my fucking god!" A voice said "He, hugged Sabaku, and he is still alive!" I turned in the direction of the voice a chubby boy whit brownish hair holding a bag of chips.

"Choji I did tell you that guy was something extra didn't I?" Kiba said to him turning around from his seat to smile at me and Sakura. Then he turned to the guy sitting next to Chouji to say something, but he just ended up bursting up laughing.

"Oh my god Shika! You should see your face! Seriously" He got out between the laughs.

* * *

I sat at the lunch table, barley paying attention to Sakura's mutterings about our math teacher from our previous lesson who had been 20 minutes late, which of course immediately got him on her bad side (the fact that he made a lame excuse about accidentally wandering of the path of life didn't help either). I was pretty sure Kakashi Hatake and Sakura would never get along. Eventually Kiba got tired of her rant and told her to not take it so personally and that he was almost always at the very least 20 minutes late. I don't even feel the need to add that that made her even more upset. I poked at the gooey pile on my plate that the school cafeteria claimed to be macaronis and chicken casserole (it tasted like salmon (1) thought, and I don't even wanna begin to think of what it looked like) thought honestly even if it had been a gourmet meal I wouldn't have been able to eat it. I felt sick and every time the thought of that I had gym class next entered my head I felt like running to the bathroom and puke. I wanted to skip that class, more than anything I wanted to skip that class. But of course I couldn't, it wasn't just the fact that I would have to explain everything to Sakura and Gaara, or even that Kiba and maybe even Sasuke would try to interrogate me too, no it wasn't just that, because Gaara's siblings (even thought I hadn't seen them in three years) would find out and interrogate me to, and if I had bad luck enough somebody would call Haku and he would drive all the way here from his college to ask what was wrong whit me.

If it was any other class then sure, but gym? Dammit! Why had gym always been my favorite class?

"Naruto, Hello earth to Naruto" Kiba said loudly while waving his hand in front of my face.

I looked up snapped out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" I asked confusedly.

"Weren't you supposed to ask Gaara something?" He asked me. Oh right I was supposed to ask Gaara about the band! I sighed inwardly, (had I done it out loud I would just have offended Kiba). I turned to Gaara that sat next to me, glaring daggers at his food, just as Sasuke he had been quiet the whole lunch and sense I was busy feeling sorry for myself (that is at least what Naomi would have called it) the only ones holding a conversation had been Kiba and Sakura.

"Gaara" I said.

"Yeah?" He asked lowly.

"Kiba got me and Sakura to join his band, and they still need a bass. You in?"

"Yeah, sure" He said whit a shrug. Kiba looked like he was about to fall out of his chair from pure shock, then he suddenly shouted right out in the cafeteria.

"We have a band!"While he got out of his chair and ran over to the table where the Shika guy was sitting, practically bouncing from happiness, I felt a wide smile form on my lips to but then Gaara asked.

"Are you gonna sing?" And I felt a huge lump form in throat as I nodded slowly. Yeah right as it wasn't enough that I had to give my grandparents the detailed explanation of how my mother died, I had to start to sing to! And then I realized I had gym class next and jet again I felt like running to the bathroom to puke, I could actually almost taste the puke in my mouth. As long as he don't recordnize me I'll be fine, I tried to convince myself, Tsunade didn't recordnize me, as long as he don't ask. But what if he did ask? Huh? What would I do, I couldn't lie, not considering that I had to explain it later today anyway, not considering that I would have no idea what to say, not considering that I was a lousy liar.

"We better head for gym" Sasuke muttered and got up. I ran to the bathroom the fastest I could and puked.

* * *

I lied on the dirty grayish tile on the floor in a toilet booth, sweat running down my forehead, my head spinning around, the strong intense light from the flourescent lamp made me feel even sicker. I was pretty sure I had a fever, I never gotten a fever from stress before (2), hell I didn't even know it was possible, but then again I might just been lucky enough to get sick at just the right time. There was no way I could go to gym class now!

There was a soft knock on the door.

"Naruto are you all right?" Gaara's voice asked.

"No" I said weakly, before I had to lean over the toilet seat and puke again.

Then a weakly reached out to turn the lock and push the door open.

Apparently that let in even more light and I felt my head throbbing. Gaara just stared at me in pure horror.

"Man when you said you weren't okay, you sure wasn't kidding, dude you look like a wreck" He finally got out, that's an odd habit off his, whenever he feels uncomfortable, shocked or worried he always started to talk like Kankuro, I had no idea why really. When I thought about it Kiba sure talked a lot like Kankuro, wonder why they weren't friends? Not that that has anything to do whit well, anything, but I get kind of odd when I'm sick.

He stretched out a hand to help me up.

"I'll walk you home" He said, back to his old self thankfully, he always creeps me out when he sounds like that.

"But-"

"Naruto you're not staying at school" He told me whit that threatening tone of voice that meant you'll obey or else.

"No it's not that" I mumbled, there was no way I was going trough gym class now when I had a way out of it.

"It's just that you shouldn't need to miss school to"

He just sighed and shook his head at me

"You're not going home alone! Not like this!" He motioned me, I must really look horrible, but I chose not to look at the mirrors, knowing exactly how horrible I look wouldn't make anything better. I didn't make any further try's to convince Gaara to stay in school, there was no point, and I felt to tired to do it anyway, and also truthfully I was quiet unsure of whether I could make it home alone or not.

As I stumbled he put my arm around his shoulders to support me, I dizzily leaned against him, he didn't even flinch, which was odd, Gaara always flinched when you touched him, comes to show how worried he really was over me, man I must look even worst than I thought.

As we stepped out of the bathroom I saw Sakura standing there, she immediately gasped and put her hand over her mouth in horror as she saw me, then she rushed over and started fussing over me.

"Naruto, you don't look so well, how do you feel?"

"Like shit" I muttered.

"I'm gonna take him home" Gaara said. "You should head back to class"

If anyone else had said that to Sakura she would have refused in order to keep fussing over me, but when Gaara said it it sounded like a treat (come to think of it most things Gaara says sounds like treats) and no one goes against Gaara's treats, besides Sakura knew Gaara well enough to trust that he would look after me.

Sakura gave me a last worried glance before she headed to class.

Besides, it was Sakura's first day her, she wanted to make a good impression, there was no way she would be late for class, I thought whit a small smile, which disappeared quite quickly due to the throbbing pain in my head. Of course I knew that I was more important to Sakura then her being on time, but if she knew I was in good hands, then there was no reason for her to make a fuss that would cause her to be late.

A thought suddenly hit me trough the blur that currently was my mind. I had a very bad sense of direction like really bad and I doubted that after only living in the new apartment for a weekend (most of it spent inside) there was any way I possibly would find my way back, and in my current state, it was downright impossible.

"Gaara" I said lowly.

"Yeah" He asked giving me another worried glance.

"I don't know how to get home" He turned over his head to look at me.

"Oh, don't worry about that I'll find it"

"Oh okay" Then I realized something and raised my eyebrow at him.

"Have you even been there?"

"Last month," He said "I did this school project whit Uchiha, I presume that would be where you live"

"Oh" I said dumbly.

"The teacher made you work together?" I asked, no matter that I was sick I still didn't feel like I wanted us to walk in silence, besides Sasuke and Gaara wasn't exactly the kind of people that would make friends whit each other, they where both to anti-social (not that I knew Sasuke very well or anything but I still figured that much out).

"No" Gaara said "Inzuka was working whit someone, so Sasuke and I was the only one left over"

By hearing the way he said, a thought hit me

"Your always the on left over aren't you?" I asked

"Yeah" He muttered, pretending he didn't care but I knew he did, no one want to be the one left over all the time.

"You won't have to be the on left over anymore" I said whit a determined voice. "I'll always pick you" I know I sounded cheesy, but hey I had a fever.

"You don't have to" He said but I saw that he was almost smiling.

"So what?" I asked "You are my best friend, I'd want to work whit you"

He actually smiled this time, but I saw a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"I'm your best friend?" He asked "I thought Sakura was?"

"Nuh, stupid she's just my sister, or well not just, but your my best friend you always been"

"Your my best friend too" He said lowly, still smiling.

"I'm glad you guys moved here, I missed you a lot Naruto" He said.

"Yeah, Missed you too" My head slumped back down against his shoulder, and I closed my eyes half asleep already, and even whit of all the mess in my life right now it was the first time in a long time I felt really safe.

I always felt safe when I was whit Gaara.

* * *

I slowly drifted out of dreamland. There was something that disturbed me, a feeling of something cold on my forehead. I realized it was a hand. But for some reason I couldn't identify the feeling of the hand. It was a soft gentle hand, so it couldn't be Gaara his hand felt harder and for some reason always a bit dry and sandy. It couldn't be Sakura's or Naomi's because they both had pretty long nails and they always pierced the skin a bit (not in the way that it made marks or so but just so slightly that it felt annoying) besides this hand was cooler then there's. It felt most alike Haku's, but still a bit cooler and softer. Almost like...Mum's. Of course it couldn't be here hand, even in my half asleep fever delusional state I knew she was dead, had been for over seven years, but in a way the thought comforted me yet brought tears to my eyes, and as much as I didn't want to open my eyes, but just drift back to sleep, my interest was peaked and I just had to open them. Slowly my vision cleared and I stared in to the midnight black eyes of _Sasuke_?

My eyes widened, he noticed that I was awake and quickly yanked back his hand as if he had gotten burned.

I stared at him.

He stared at me.

The moment felt like it lasted forever but it might just have been a few seconds, and then the door flew open.

"Naruto! Your awake!" Sakura announced as she noticed my open eyes.

"Thank god! I was so worried!" She continued as she practically ran over to my bedside and pushed Sasuke away. She immediately started pampering me, fluffing my pillow, asking if I needed anything, food, some water, an extra blanket, painkillers. I insisted that I just wanted to go back to sleep. But she still insisted to fetch me an extra blanket and a glass of water. I was too tired to continue arguing whit her so I gave her a shrug and she practically ran out to get them for me.. After she left my eyes searched the room for Sasuke, but I found that he'd probably left the room while Sakura was making a fuss over me. I felt that I missed his presence some how it made me feel comforted, I guessed it was because his hand had felt like mum's but I had a feeling there was some other reason too. I sighed too tired to continue my trail of thoughts, besides I always had the weirdest thoughts when I was sick.

After a short while Sakura re-entered the room carrying a blanket and glass of water.

She sat down next too me in the bed and gently put my head in her knee as she held it up to help me drink. Then she gently pushed the sweat drenched locks of my hair away from my forehead and bobbed my forehead whit a cool wet cloth I was unsure how she got. After she was finished she gently put my head down, tucked me in underneath my comforter and the blanket she had gotten. Then she gave me a small kiss on the forehead, before she exited the room and turned of the lights. She would probably make a grate nurse someday, was the last thought that went trough my head before I drifted back in to the world of dreams.

_And memories._

* * *

_I felt mum's soft cool and on my forehead._

"_I think the fever is coming down sweetheart." She said softly and kissed me on the forehead._

"_Go back to sleep now baby" I nodded slowly._

"_Good boy! Goodnight Naruto" _

"_Goodnight Mommy" _

"_How is he?" Dad asked from the door._

"_Oh, I think the fever is coming down" She kissed him lightly on the cheek._

"_You worry too much honey" Mum exited the room and went down the hall and dad entered. _

"_You really got us worried there buddy, fainting like that at the mall" He said and ruffled my hair._

"_Sorry Daddy" I mumbled, half asleep already._

"_Why are you sorry? It wasn't your fault"_

"_I don't want you to be sad because of me" I said._

"_We only worry because we love you so much, and that buddy is something we'd never feel sorry about or regret" Dad said whit a soft warm smile, he gave me a warm hug, before he ruffled my hair again._

"_Goodnight Naruto, I love you" Dad said_

"_Nighty-night Daddy, Love you too" I answered. _

_He exited the room and closed the door after him._

* * *

My eyes snapped opened, quickly looking around the room, that I half expected to be my early childhood bedroom that I hadn't been in sense I was five. Thankfully I instead saw the much less familiar room a shared whit Sasuke, the dream, no the memory was over, because as much as the earlier part of the memory seemed cute and happy, the ending was the opposite, because the next time I saw my dad after he had closed the door he wasn't alive anymore, because that had been the night that he'd died. I quickly pushed away all the memory flashes of what had happened when I woke up that night.

Instead my eyes flew around the room, apparently it was night because Sasuke lied asleep in his bed barley noticeable in the darkness. I sighed I felt tired too, and all I wanted to do was to go back to sleep, but sense I knew how that dream, memory that had become a nightmare, ended I just couldn't. Instead I slowly quietly got up, dizzily steadying myself against the wall, and then I as quietly as I could not to wake Sasuke tiptoed out the room. I went in to the bathroom, turned on the lights and locked the door.

I eyed myself and the mirror and understood completely why Gaara and Sakura had made such a fuss.

I looked like shit.

"_We only worry about you cause we love you so much" _I heard my dad's voice in my head.

I sat down on the toilet lid burying my head in my hands, almost furiously trying to push the tears away.

I failed miserably.

I sat there crying for maybe an hour, maybe more before I finally collected myself and practically stumbled back to bed in exhaustion.

* * *

The next time I woke up the fever seemed to have passed and I felt clear. My eyes were still shut but I noticed that the lights were turned on. Yet again there was a hand on my forehead, this one remembered of my mum's hand to, but not in the way Sasuke's had it was more in the shape and form, not in the softness and temperature and I felt long nails so I was completely certain it wasn't his hand, nor my mothers for that matter she never had long nails she always said they got in her way. Not that I didn't know that there where other reasons it couldn't be my mothers hand, like the fact that she'd been dead for seven years. As I couldn't identify the hand my curiosity was peaked again, besides this time my fever was down so I didn't really feel like going back to sleep either.

I opened my eyes and two familiar strangers faces looked down at me from there positions sitting on two chairs that had been placed next to my bed.

"Granny, Grandpa" I mumbled uncertainly at them and I identified the hand on my forehead as Tsunade's.

"Nice to see ya again kid" Jiraya stated smiling at me, then he stretched out his hand and ruffled my hair. The ruffle felt familiar and not just because he had used to do it those moths I'd stayed whit them back when I was five, but also that it felt like when my dad had ruffled my hair, and that was the odd thing, even thought Jiraya had been my mothers father he always remembered me more about my dad.

"Look" Tsunade said after awhile of silence looking everywhere else except for at me. "I Know I might have seemed a bit harsh on you ordering you to tell me about Miko's death like that but baby you gotta understan, just hearing about it, hearing that she was dead, it crushed me." She gently played whit my bangs whit her left hand as she spoke and when she paused to take a deep breath she held her two of the fingers on her right hand against her eyelids (an obvious effort to hold back tears). I gently reached out whit my hand gently rubbing her cheek to comfort her, she half smiled at that and captured my hand whit hers, holding it tightly.

"What I'm trying to say is" She sighed a bit "Little one, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings and made you stressed, it was just a weak moment for me" She rubbed the back of my hand whit her thumb.

"She was my daughter, I loved her so much" And the she started to cry, not in the uncontrolled hysterical way my brother or I usually cry, but in a calm collected way yet I knew that even if she whished to she couldn't stop the tears. I noticed that Jiraya gently rubbed her back, and that he had tears in his eyes too. I got up and wrapped my arms around my grandmother. She grabbed a hold of me and pulled me down in her lap holding me tightly. That was the first time sense my mum's death I had been held like that, and suddenly I noticed I was crying to.

"Little one, I'm so sorry" She sniffled against my ear.

"Don't worry about it granny" I sniffled back "It's okay"

Eventually the tear's faded.

Both mine and hers.

I tried to get up, but she wouldn't let go so I remained sitting in her lap. I realized that even thought I wasn't heavy for being a sixteen year old boy (actually I was slightly under the regular weight curve for male's my age) I was still much heavier then when I was last being held in someone's lap. But when I asked Tsunade about it she just laughed softly and said that I wasn't heavy at all and that she might be a little bit older then she looked but she was also much stronger then she looked. Jiraya laughed at that, mumbling something along the lines of that she wasn't just a little bit older then she looked, she hit him over the head for that. We sat like that for a long time, they asking me about everything that had happened sense we last meet eleven years ago. We talked about everything, school, friends, interests and everything else that had happened in mine and my brother's life. We kept an easy tone to it and never got in at to personal stuff especially not about my brother, his life was his story to tell not mine. We talked about my current health, and when I was going back to school, they told me a lot about the school and the teachers, they even informed me about some of the students, honestly I heard more gossip from them then even Kiba would have been able to tell me (yes they where aware of teacher student confidesiality and of course they never told me anything private about anyone, what they told me was just common knowledge and gossip). We talked about everything between heaven and earth and much, much more. Except one single subject, mum.

Of course we had to get there eventually to. But still when Tsunade corrected my position in her knee and they both looked at me whit those serious faces, I thought it was too soon, much too soon.

I sighed heavily.

"Do I have to?"

"I'm sorry little one" Tsunade sighed and pulled her fingers trough my hair.

"Kid" Jiraya said "Don't you think we deserve to know?"

I nodded slowly.

"Of course I do. It's just that it's hard to talk about it. Okay?"

They both nodded. I closed my eyes and slowly counted to ten to collect myself. Then I opened my eyes and face them both, telling them the story about how my mum had died.

* * *

After they left I got up from my bed, I took a long shower washing the last trace of my fever away. Then I got dressed sat down on my bed and looked at the clock on the wall.

15:47 then it wasn't to long before Sakura and Sasuke would be back from school. I sighed and lent my head back against the pillow, they might have Kiba whit them and then he would start nagging about the band again. Then again I had to go to school again tomorrow and there would Kiba definitely be I felt a lump in my throat just thinking about, well on the positive side, if they (okay Kiba) started pressuring me to much at least I had Gaara. Don't get me wrong I loved being in a band the whole idea got me exited but it meant I had to sing again, that I had to do something I stopped whit years ago, more precisely seven years ago. I loved singing to and I still did it sometimes in the shower or when I listened to music it was just that I hadn't sung in front of people sense that time, and I wasn't sure I was ready not yet.

Then again Sakura thought I was and she was one of the persons that knew me best.

* * *

Oh well I'll deal whit that problem when it's time, there was no reason to overly worry about it in before hand, I thought to myself and furiously pushed the lump in my throat away.

(1) Happened to me and my mum once when we where cooking chicken caserol.

(2) Yeah I know you can't get an actual fever from short time stress, atleast it's not very likley, but he just moved so my guess is that he had been under a lot of stress for awhile, and also I was coming down whit a cold when I wrote that part and I alway's get really weird when I'm sick...Anyway.

AN: Uhm yeah what happened to Naruto's parent's and why he don't want to sing will be excplained later, and about Tsunade and Jiraya they had a short relationship that ended quiclky a long long time ago, (they got drunk and accidentaly...) the thougth of that alway's amuse me I will get more into that later too. Anyway please reviwe it make's me really happy and jumpy which get's me out of my glomyness and i rarley feel like writeing when I'm depressed or down (and what I do write get's quiet crappy) so please make me happy! I know it's annoying when people nag for reviwe's (I consider what I'm doing asking politley thought) so I apolgize if it bothers you I also now that reviweing can be hard I suck at it (that's why I don't reviwe all that much) but if you feel like it reviwe...

I'll be back whit the next chapter whitin a month I hope, and I will post the beta-ed version as soon as possibel. Many thanks to all who read my story.


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